Experts have issued Keir Starmer an urgent warning over the Labour Party’s planned VAT raid on private school fees. The party’s plans to charge parents 20 percent on tax on their children’s private education has sparked concern from top education leaders, who fear poorer students will lose out on grammar school places as a result.
Grammar school headteachers up and down the country think that Sir Keir’s plans will lead to many parents pushing for their children to attend grammar schools instead in a bid to dodge the new tax. Underprivileged children would be more likely to lose out as a result, they claim, as wealthier parents will be more likely to pay for their children to get tutors for the controversial 11-plus exam.
Studies conducted in the past have indicated that around 90,000 children could be forced into the state sector if private school fees become unaffordable. The Labour Party would introduce the plans in the event of a general election win, with a vote expected to take place in the second half of the year.
It comes as Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said previously that she doesn’t see “why you shouldn’t pay VAT on sending your child to a private school” – comparing it to “taking your family out for a meal at the weekend”. But the plans have sparked fury among parents and concern from leading figures in the education sector.
Phillip Bosworth, of the National Grammar Schools Association, warned that local children could easily be “pushed out” of grammar school following an influx of parents putting their children through 11-Plus exams. He told the MailOnline: “A large influx of students from private schools to grammar schools is going to be a challenge, as there simply aren’t sufficient extra places.”
Joe Hytner, director of Titanium Tutors, added that if VAT were to be added to private school fees, then it would be highly likely that 11-Plus tutoring, which is already “gathering pace”, would grow in demand. He said: “This will mean more pressure and competition for places at top state schools, potentially fueling more demand for tutoring.”
It comes after Sir Keir and his party recently U-turned on its plans to abolish the charitable status of private schools after a huge backlash. But nearly 90,000 people have signed a petition calling on Labour to scrap the policy.
Tony Perry, who started the petition, says his family is working class but that he made the decision to send his child to private school. He said: “Private schools aren’t simply playgrounds of the wealthy. Many families make life-changing sacrifices to choose a specific school for their child. This choice can be for many reasons, including for students with special education needs, students of a particular faith, students from military families and so many others.
“Labour’s proposal risks pricing many families out of their children’s schools, giving them little choice but to transfer their children into already crowded state schools.”
Commenting on the petition, state school teacher Sam Targett, from Burgess Hill, said: “I work in a state school with over 30 in a class and oversubscribed. My two kids went or go to private schools and we have sacrificed loads to do this.
“We are not wealthy, many of the kids at the school I work at live in bigger houses and have much more disposable income than we do. All this will do is push the kids like ours back into an already oversubscribed state system, increase class sizes even more and create a bigger divide as private education will become truly elitist.”
Sarah Crossland added: “If children have to leave private sector education, because parents can no longer afford it when the proposed VAT regulations come into place, then the state sector education system will suffer massively with an influx of children, on an already struggling system. The figures calculated to demonstrate this are staggering and seem to far outweigh any perceived benefit of the VAT income.”
Natasha Sutton chimed in: “This is not fair on working families who work all hours and sacrifice everything to send their kids to private school. This is going to stop social mobility and create a two-tier society: the haves and the have nots.”
Meanwhile The Independent Schools Council, which represents 1,300 schools, has warned the extra financial burden of VAT could impact the ability of institutions to help fund places for poorer pupils.
The Labour Party has been contacted for comment.
